Following the defeat of Germany in World War II, the heads of government of three of the victorious nations: the Soviet Union, Britain and the United States, held a conference to decide how to administer the defeated Nazi Germany. This was done through the Potsdam Conference, which took place in July of 1945: 9 weeks after Germany's unconditional surrender. Germany was then divided into 4 occupational zones between France, Britain, the United States and the Soviet; Berlin, which stood on Soviet grounds, was also divided into four sectors with the Western zone later becoming West Berlin and the Soviet's zone becoming East Berlin; East Germany's capital. Together these countries formed The Allied Control Council.
"A key term in the occupier's agenda was denazification: an allied initiative to rid German and Austrian society, culture, press, economy, judiciary and politics of any remnants of the Nazi regime," ("Germany", Wikipedia).
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